How to Set up 'Click to Call' Ads on Facebook

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While there are many different objectives that you can optimize your Facebook Ads for, sometimes all you really want is to make the phone ring. However, out of all of the campaign objective types, it isn’t exactly obvious how to create an ad unit specifically meant to encourage users to give your business a call. Google has this power – why shouldn’t Facebook Advertisers have it in their arsenal as well?

Now, before we outline this tactic it's critical to understand how the Facebook Ads system works. While you can create a 'Click to Call' ad, that doesn’t mean that Facebook is optimizing ad delivery to people who typically click the “Call" button. The system actually optimizes for reach, which means that it's trying to show your ad to the maximum amount of people possible.

With other campaign objectives, like lead generation, Facebook can optimize delivery to people within your audience who've previously filled out a form, or are most likely to do so. The 'Click to Call' ad operates a bit differently, which is important to note.

Here's how to set up a 'Click to Call' ad on Facebook.

1. Go into Facebook Ad Manager and set up a new campaign, and choose 'Reach' as your campaign objective.

2. Apply your desired targeting at the 'Ad Set' level and continue down the flow. Under 'Placements', make sure you select all mobile ad placements (as people cant call you from their desktop).

3. At this point, you'll create your ad as usual, however, under the 'Reach' campaign objective, you have the option to add a URL to your post, which also opens up the 'Call to Action' buttons. Here, you need to select 'Call' and add your business phone number.

Now when users are served your ad in their mobile feed, on both Facebook and/or Instagram, they'll be able to call your business directly in just a couple of taps. This is a great idea for businesses that know they close the most sales by actually talking to the customer on the phone.

As noted, with this technique, Facebook won’t necessarily optimize delivery of your ad to people who are likely to call you, but it will optimize for maximum reach. Consider this as you're optimizing your ad targeting.